James Gurney

This daily weblog by Dinotopia creator James Gurney is for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers. You'll find practical studio tips, insights into the making of the Dinotopia books, and first-hand reports from art schools and museums.

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or by email:gurneyjourney (at) gmail.comSorry, I can't give personal art advice or portfolio reviews. If you can, it's best to ask art questions in the blog comments.

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All images and text are copyright 2015 James Gurney and/or their respective owners. Dinotopia is a registered trademark of James Gurney. For use of text or images in traditional print media or for any commercial licensing rights, please email me for permission.

However, you can quote images or text without asking permission on your educational or non-commercial blog, website, or Facebook page as long as you give me credit and provide a link back. Students and teachers can also quote images or text for their non-commercial school activity. It's also OK to do an artistic copy of my paintings as a study exercise without asking permission.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

When an object is lit by direct sunlight, the texture is not equally prominent throughout the form. The texture in the shadow should not just be a darker version of the texture in the light, because that’s not how the eye sees it.

This concrete moon-face is a good example. The texture is very difficult to see at all in the shadow region. It’s also not terribly prominent in the fully lit areas of lighter halftone, such as the forehead and the left hand edge of the form.

What you tend to see in those light halftones are variations in local color--in other words, freckles rather than pores.

The place where you really see the texture is in the darker halftone, just before the terminator divides the light side from the shadow side. In this moon man it appears in the cheeks, the tip of the nose, the lower lip, and the chin. This region is sometimes called the halflight, an area of raking light where any bumps in the surface stand out dramatically.
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This example amplifies the discussion on page 46 of the Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter.
Previous GJ Posts: Texture in the Halflight and Light and Form (The Form Principle)Color and Light on Amazon internationally: USA | CA | UK | FR | DE | JPColor and Light signed (and doodled in) by me, from the Dinotopia Store

7 comments:

Funny you should use a moon as an example, as this phenomena is actually well appreciated amongst sky gazers as well.Many people assume that a full moon is best for viewing through a telescope, perhaps because there is more light.But the half moon is actually best because it emphasizes the craters more, especially at the termination line.

Yes, for a simple geometric property, light is always grazing in the neighborhood of the terminator (rays are tangent to object there).

A side note. Amazon has just launched the italian site (.it), but unfortunately "Color and light" is not yet available (Dinotopia and Imaginative Realism are available). It's a pity. Don't know if your editor can "push" Amazon someway... :)

I received your book two days ago, and I am fighting every night to not fall asleep (I have just had a baby, and work is really tiring these days) saying: "just one more page, just one more page".I am really enjoying it, and though they are not comparable, I think it is deeper than the previous one. Good job!